COVID-19 In Maryland: 1,465 Hospitalizations, Positivity Rate Up To 12.15%
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Maryland reported 4,072 new COVID-19 cases, according to health department data released Wednesday morning.
The percentage of people testing positive rose to 12.15%, an increase of 0.5% over the past 24 hours.
Hospitalizations rose by 73 to 1,465. Of those hospitalized, 1,158 adults are in acute care and 297 are in intensive care. Seven children are in acute care and three are in intensive care.
The latest round of data comes as Maryland nears 1,500 hospitalizations. If the state hits that threshold, hospitals would roll out their pandemic plans, which lay out a blueprint for how they'll maximize staffed surgical bed and ICU capacity.
Last week, hospitals throughout the state were directed to free up beds and delay scheduling non-emergency procedures and submit their pandemic plans after the state reached 1,200 hospitalizations.
On Tuesday, Gov. Larry Hogan announced the state plans to spend $100 million in emergency funding to shore up the medical workforce and expand access to COVID-19 tests, vaccines and monoclonal antibody treatments.
Since the pandemic began, there have been a total of 631,510 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Maryland and 11,022 deaths.
There are 4,235,363 Marylanders fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
The state has administered 10,115,035 doses. Of those, 4,426,330 are first doses, with 8,276 administered in the past 24 hours. Officials have given out 3,909,446 second doses, 3,861 of them in the last day.
A total of 325,917 Marylanders have received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, 165 over the last 24 hours.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data show 91% of all Marylanders age 18 and older have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Even as officials monitor cases of the new Omicron variant, which is believed to be more transmissible than other strains, Hogan said he does not plan to impose any lockdowns. Instead, residents are asked to socially distance, wear masks in public and get vaccinated.
"The bottom line: if you are unvaccinated, get vaccinated. If you are vaccinated, get your booster shot," the governor said last week.
In Maryland, everyone age 16 and up is eligible to get the booster dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
To date, the state has administered 1,453,342 additional or booster vaccine doses, according to the most recent data.
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